Two years ago the Oakley Big Bass Tour held a tournament on Lake Lewisville! All fish from that tournament(around 200 bass) were release from a holding tank off lake park boat ramp! Well the next weekend I had a Championship where day 1 was on Lake Lewisville! Well we started and stayed on that ramp and 100 yrds each side of it and proceeded to put us in 1st place after day one! Now there is some gnarly shelfs and points just off that ramp!

So yes if u can find some kind of good structure close to a release area... It should hold good fish! Some of Those fish(in my mind) will find that structure close!

This time of year the number could get pretty high because of heat stress, I'd figure tourneys in the February time frame would be near zero, right now if you held a daytime tourney it might be over 50% and that is one reason there aren't a lot of daytime tourneys this time of year. My two cents

There has been alot of research in how and how long it takes bass to get back to where they came from.

I don't remeber all the articles i've read off hand on the subject but fish have been taged and tracked after release and they normally stick to the first availible good structure for a few days to et their beerings, then head back to where they came from for the most part(not exact tree stump, but general area), even if it's miles and miles away..

Most of the bigger tourneys I have fished have a good survivale rate. Only one that I have fished starts the wiegh in at 2:00 PM and I have seen more dead fish at that one due to time at whiegh in

They all die eventually.

Interesting stuff.

Oh,really? Just search right here under Keeping Bass Alive. Educate,yourself,so you can minimize your future embarrassments.

Right. The TDs need to reduce the limit to 3 fish in hot water months.

It's Post tournament mortality. They swim away but die within 2/3 weeks.

No,man. Mortality rates are much lower for catch and immediate release fish,vs. Tournament released fish.

seems like a few opinions are out there. The man shot a number, 35%(must be fact) is huge. I would like to see some evidence to base the statement. I sure hope his findings are not accurate!

The 35% figure isn't made up. I can't recall which study it came from, but I know our local fisheries biologist referenced it at a meeting back in the 90's. Some tournaments in hot months had delayed mortality in the 50% range if I remember correctly. High water temps = low dissolved oxygen, when the stress is added in it kills a lot of fish.

So there have been no studies since the 90's. There have been lots of changes in the way fish are stored and treated since the 90's. I know that the livewells are bigger and I'm using U2 with an Oxygenator. I know back in the 90's I used to lose fish especially during the warmer months but in the last 4 years I can say I have lost 2 fish. That is quite a substantial change for me and I'm sure everyone else on the board could share similiar stories.

Jody

We have this argument every few months.

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/article/Texas-Journal-Science/89273625.html

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1577/1548-8675(1997)017%3C0131%3AEOOPOM%3E2.3.CO%3B2

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1577/1548-8659(1987)7%3C394%3AEOPPAT%3E2.0.CO%3B2

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1577/1548-8446(1998)023%3C0012%3ATMIBB%3E2.0.CO%3B2

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2400.2007.00527.x/abstract?systemMessage=Wiley+Online+Library+will+be+disrupted+on+7+July+from+10%3A00-12%3A00+BST+%2805%3A00-07%3A00+EDT%29+for+essential+maintenance&userIsAuthenticated=false&deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1577/T03-145.1

All peer-reviewed articles with most mortality estimates in the abstracts so you can read them without subscription. Mortality varies from nothing to nearly all of them depending on numerous things, namely temperature. Somewhere around 30-40% is the average OVERALL mortality of fish released after tournaments for a year.

To the OP, many of the fish will stick around for a couple days but don't normally bite. Most will wonder off after a while though.

The BOMUS (Bureau of Made Up Statistics) confirms that 35% of bass die after release from a tournament. They also confirmed that 26% of bass fishermen who fish alone have been probed by aliens.